Feathers
by Darkening-Wings
Summary: Penelo is worried about Vaan and Balthier seem to be quite amused. No chocobo was harmed. Much.


**Please inform me if you find errors that I have overlooked. I don't have english as my main language, so yeah, I rely on Word.**

**Also, please R&R. I love reviews; they cheer me up and cheer me on in my writing.**

**CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME and SQUARE ENIX IS GOD.**

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It was another, beautiful, sunny day in Rabanastre.

The Muthru bazaar was packed with people; the shop clerks had to order more products as the Hunters were spending their last money on potions and other items. Steam rose up to the sun from the different dishes that were fried, or boiled and served to the passing-by groups.

By the Centurio clan stall, there was a team, chatting with the bangaa who sold the wares and exchanging several different loots with him. Amongst them was a short, frail looking girl with braids.

"Ashe, we already have potions for a long trip. It cannot be that far to Giruvegan." An older looking man said, holding a potions pack in his right hand and scratching the scar that went over his left eye with the other.

"As I recall," the girl called Ashe said, sounding rather annoyed as she eyed the vials. "The last time you said 'we have enough potions' we barely made it to Archades. And I'm sure both Balthier and Penelo agree with me."

Penelo didn't care for their bickering; they were always at it about something. She was, however, very worried. She hadn't seen Vaan, her thief friend, since the early morning, when he had been talking to Balthier in an overly cheery manner. And the mentioned sky-pirate had had a lopsided smirk on his face all day.

Nothing uncommon, really.

Basch and Ashe ended their petite quarrel and instead started investigating some new bazaar goods, murmuring silently to each other, exchanging frowns and nods every now and then, checking their licenses, counting their gil. They hadn't seemed to notice Vaan's disappearance, or maybe they just didn't care. Neither option would be very surprising.

She decided to turn to the silent viera instead.

"Fran," she said, giving the silver haired, dark skinned and rabbit eared woman a pleading look. "Have you seen Vaan??"

The viera blinked slowly, leaning her head slightly to her right, and small trickles of light danced over her hair. "No, I have not." She said in her usual calm manner. "However, I heard he left in a chocobo related errand-"

"A chocobo? Do you think he meant the white mark? He can't hunt that thing alone!" the blonde girl was growing hysteric, tearing at her pigtails. But Fran only gave a small chuckle.

"He might be dumb." She said, "But I believe he is able to understand that he cannot win that mark on his own."

It didn't calm Penelo in the slightest; instead she grabbed the closest bangaa by his arm and ordered him to go look for the missing thief.

She interrupted her find-Vaan mission when Balthier suddenly spoke, glancing to the sun through the small space between the Centurio stall and its neighbor; "Now should be the time."

There was a scream further up the bazaar, followed by several ah's and oh's.

On the roof of the great building that shaded the bazaar was a dark silhouette, radiating a slight golden glow. It rose what looked like wings and sprinted out from the roof, emitting a shriek as it left the safety of the flat stone building. It flew forward; hovering upon its great golden wings for a while and then suddenly went into a sharp dive.

As it passed by over the team members heads, several feathers fell from it and Fran grabbed one. She examined it, and turned to Balthier. "This is a common chocobo feather..." She said, waving it at him whilst raising a questioning eyebrow. "And we all know chocobo's cannot fly."

Balthier laughed, watching as the flying object fell like a stone further down the bazaar. "That's not a chocobo, it's out dear thief humiliating himself." And with that he turned to Basch, who sighed and gave him a rather big amount of gil. Once the money had been passed (with Ashe giving the former Captain a quizzical look) the small group headed towards where the 'bird' had fallen. Seeqs and bangaas had already gathered around it, along with the few imperial soldiers that were stationed in the bazaar, all of them readying their weapons, but stopped abruptly as the 'bird' got up on its feet, tossing yellow feathers everywhere.

And so it turned to the odd team.

"BALTHIER!" It roared, and now Penelo recognized the voice. "YOU BETTER GIVE ME A GOOD REASON AS TO WHY YOU ORDERED ME TO DO THIS."

And the sky pirate chuckled, weighing his now much heavier wallet in his hand.


End file.
